


fool's gold

by alittlelesspain, littlelamplight



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, it's a detective story but its still acab all day, we don't want there to be doubts about that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:07:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27216922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alittlelesspain/pseuds/alittlelesspain, https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlelamplight/pseuds/littlelamplight
Summary: When Detective Alex Danvers is assigned her first case at her new branch, she expects it to be done quickly. However, a simple burglary case begins to look like something far darker after she meets Astra, the desperate sister of the victim. Pressured from all sides to dismiss the case, Alex soon finds herself caught up in a web of lies and corruption, but she still promises to Astra that she'll find her sister's would-be murderer. If she lives long enough, that is.(Written for the "Teamwork" prompt.)
Relationships: Astra/Alex Danvers, Lucy Lane/Alura In-Ze | Alura Zor-El
Comments: 21
Kudos: 69
Collections: General Danvers & Supercat Week 5





	fool's gold

**Author's Note:**

> We meant to post this for the "Teamwork" prompt for GDW, because it fits the prompt on both the obvious and meta way, but on account of who we are as people, it's... late. We hope you enjoy regardless!

Alex taps her fingers restlessly on her thighs as she waits for the car to crawl along the dusty Metropolis highway. 

“And I thought National City had traffic,” she comments, without bothering to turn towards her partner.

“Must be a pile-up ahead,” Maxwell Lord says, not bothering to look away from the front either, as they crawl forward by mere inches. “Happens once in a while.”

Alex holds in an aggravated sigh. Max doesn’t sound upset at all, and she doesn’t know whether it’s because he’s used to this, or because he wants to rub it in that she’s the newbie, unused to the mundane pitfalls of patrolling this city.

“Sorry you’re stuck with me on this case,” she says, instead, not because she actually cares, but because she thinks that might draw him out. “I know you probably wanted to be assigned to something high profile, not having to show the new recruit the ropes.”

Max shrugs.

“I don’t mind being paid time-and-a-half to supervise a routine break-in investigation,” he says, smirking. “If all my cases were the kind that gets me a personal commendation from the mayor, I’d have no downtime.”

Alex rolls her eyes. Despite only having been transferred last week, she’s already heard all about his latest commendation. Hard not to hear it, considering he keeps bringing it up in conversation, the way people who went to Harvard bring up the fact that they went to Harvard.

Still, even if he might be a blowhard, at least Max doesn’t seem pissed at being relegated to babysitting duty, which is all Alex needs to know.

She casts a cursory glance down at the file in her lap, going over the basic details.

“Alura In-Ze, high profile corporate lawyer,” she reads out, and frowns. “The surprising part is that whoever broke in shot her. Think there’s anything in that?”

“You think a junkie desperate enough to get money for their fix won’t shoot an unarmed woman to get away?” Max asks, with another shrug. “Nothing I haven’t seen before.”

Alex breathes out a sigh and leans back, and that’s when the lane in front of them suddenly opens up, the bumper-to-bumper cars suddenly speeding off into the distance.

“ _ Finally _ ,” Max says, and floors it. “Come on, let’s see if we can inspect the victim’s house and still get back before lunch.”

* * *

At first glance, nothing about the state of Alura In-Ze’s house seems unusual to Alex. The two officers standing guard around the house nod to her and Max as they approach, but go right back to whatever they’re staring at on their phones, as soon as the two pass. When Alex steps through, she spots the trail of scattered clothing and papers over the floor of the living room, leading to the window through which the burglars had escaped.

“Forensic sent word to us that the victim had fallen asleep in the den, when she woke up and heard the break-in proceeding in her bedroom,” Max says, leading her through the mess. “They’d already gone through her study, before she found them in the bedroom. That’s when they shot her, managing to get away in the process.”

Alex nods as they enter the study, stepping gingerly around the broken glass and scattered books. 

She surveys the mess around her, her mind automatically filing away things of note. A laptop is conspicuously missing from where the power cord for it snakes from the outlet, but there are two tablets charging on top of a haphazard pile of books in a corner of the room, that look like they haven’t even been touched. There’s also a filing cabinet that has been pulled all the way out, its files scattered all over the floor in a mess of flyaway paper. Aside from that, Alex also notes that a bunch of professional awards and trophies have been swept down into a pile of broken glass on the floor, and almost all the books have been taken out of the bookshelf, and chucked into all corners of the room.

“How did she manage to sleep through all this?” she asks.

“There were sleeping tablets found in her system,” Max says. “Her doctor confirmed to us that they’d been prescribed to her, and that she was in the habit of taking them after work.”

Alex nods absentmindedly, and goes back to inspecting the room, scribbling in her notebook occasionally. When Max finishes his own inspection, and heads for the bedroom, she follows.

The first thing that catches their eyes is the pool of blood on the carpet, carefully taped away by the forensics team.

“Fuck,” Alex breathes out, rapidly coming to an estimate of just how much blood the victim must have lost, before the paramedics had got to her.

Max nods, a grim look on his face.

By silent agreement, they divide up the room into half between them. Alex sets to inspecting her half, becoming more and more absorbed in what she’s observing, as a dim progression of events begins to chart itself in her brain, out of the mess that the room is in.

“Well, well, well,” Max says, after a while.

Alex turns around, concentration broken, only to see some flimsy, lace-like thing draped over his arm. It takes her a while to recognize it as underwear.

“Would you look at that?” Max says, smirking. “The good lawyer was into some high-grade lingerie.”

Alex grabs it from his hands and throws it blindly back into its drawer, flushing. “Concentrate on the case, Max.”

She goes back to the drawer she had been inspecting, frowning at it.

“There is something weird here, though,” she says. 

While Max watches, she teases out a necklace studded with diamonds, from the dozens snaking along the bottom of the drawer.

“Why take some of the jewellery and leave some of it behind?” she asks, letting it run through her gloved fingers back into the drawer. “Why bother turning the room inside out, if you’re only going to pocket some of the valuables?”

“The evidence looks like they were in the middle of ransacking this room, when the victim realized they were in the house,” Max says. “Do you think that’s why they grabbed what they could and ran?”

“Could be,” Alex says, still frowning. “But that doesn’t explain why they took the laptop and phone from her study, but left behind the two tablets that were in the corner of the room. Why bother even searching her study first, instead of directly coming to this room for the expensive jewellery?”

“On account of not being a criminal, I can’t say why one’s mind would work that way,” Max drawls out. “Can we please finish up and head back? Forensics has already been through here. I guarantee you’re not going to find something they already haven’t.”

Alex sends him a sideways look.

“I think we should visit the victim, too,” she says, abruptly. “She’s being treated at the general hospital downtown, isn’t she?”

“She’s in a coma, Danvers,” Max says, rolling his eyes. “Unless you’ve got experience with an ouija board, I don’t think we’re going to be asking Alura In-Ze what happened anytime soon.”

“Still,” Alex insists. “I think we need to at least  _ see _ her, don’t you?”

“Fine,” Max says, rolling his eyes, and then he puts up his arms. “We can visit the hospital  _ after  _ we get back to the station. I’m not skipping my lunch just so we can go on your wild goose chase.”

* * *

Sometimes it feels a little strange, walking around hospitals as a detective when she’d once thought she’d end up working there as a doctor. Alex gives the doctors and nurses friendly smiles as she passes, feeling that sense of connection that comes from having seen the same gruesome things often, and flashes her badge at the woman behind the desk. 

"I’m looking for Alura In-Ze?” she asks, aware of Max sliding up behind her, and of the receptionist giving him the admiring once-over that he’s often on the receiving end of. “Victim of a break in." 

She’s directed down a long corridor, where she’s greeted by a harried looking woman who nevertheless returns her smile, if a little tensely. 

"You’re the detective, right?" she asks.

Alex nods. "That’s me, Doctor –?"

“Thompkins." The doctor gestures towards the door behind her. "She was very lucky, you know. Gunshot to the chest. Just missed her heart."

Alex extends her hand, and the doctor passes over her notes without complaint. Alex scans the pages, her brow furrowing slightly. 

"What about the rest of these injuries?" she asks.

“They’re mostly minor, could’ve been from a struggle." Thompkins takes the clipboard from her. “You’ll want a full report?" 

“Yes, thank you."

Alex opens the door, and pauses just inside, taking in a familiar scene. Their victim lies still in the bed, hooked up to numerous wires and tubes, one of those thin, rough looking blankets spread over her. Alex can't see her face, her view blocked by a woman sitting in the chair beside, her head bowed. Alex can see the grief in the heavy slump of her shoulders, and she sighs heavily.

"Who's that?" she murmurs.

The doctor looks up from her clipboard, eyes clouding over.

“Her sister,” she replies, just as quietly. “She hasn't left her side the whole day."

Alex nods slowly, gives the doctor a slight nod, and steps into the room, shutting the door behind her. The woman by the bed doesn't move, and Alex realises that she's sitting close enough to rest her head on the pillow beside the victim, her fingers curled tightly around her hand. Alex can't really see her face, but there's a faint, tell-tale tremor to her shoulders, that makes Alex's own heart clench in sympathy. She clears her throat loudly enough to give the woman time to recover.

“Excuse me, ma’am? Could I have a moment?"

The woman looks up, and Alex has a moment to register that she has the same face as her unconscious sister, but twisted with misery, before she's on her feet, her eyes sharp and hard. 

"Who are you?" she snaps, her body tilted to shield her sister. "How did you get in?"

Alex flashes her badge quickly. 

"Detective Alex Danvers,” she says. “I’ve been assigned to look into your sister’s attack." 

The woman doesn’t move for a long moment, her eyes lingering on the weapon by her side. She doesn’t look at all reassured, but finally she takes a seat.

“Well,” she says, “At least you’re not calling it an accident." 

Alex frowns. "Why would I? She was shot." 

The woman’s jaw clenches, and Alex steps up to the foot of the bed. 

"What’s your name, ma’am?" she asks.

“Astra In-Ze.” The woman continues to stare at her, her eyes intensely focused on her face. 

"And what do you think of this so far, detective?" she asks.

Alex sighs, picking up Alura In-Ze’s chart from the end of her bed and taking a moment to read through it. 

"I can’t discuss that, I’m afraid." 

Astra In-Ze’s eyes narrow.

"Then you’ll get nothing from me," she says.

“Ma’am –” 

“My sister was shot in her own home.” Astra’s voice is hard, but there’s something far more vulnerable shining in her eyes. "I want to know what’s going on." 

Alex hesitates. She’s not supposed to, but she can’t quite forget the way Astra had her face pressed against her sister’s pillow, when she had entered. She’s never been very good at distancing herself from the victims and their families, no matter what her superiors tell her. She looks down at the chart again, her brows furrowing tightly as she takes in the information before her. 

"Well, I don’t think it was a burglary gone wrong," she says.

There’s a beat of silence. Alex glances up in time to see a look of surprise on Astra’s face, before she schools her expression.

"Why?" Astra asks.

Alex lifts the chart slightly.

"Her injuries. They could be attributed to a struggle before they shot her, but…”

She trails off, and looks at the woman lying still in the bed between them. Alura has a split lip, and there are dark bruises blossoming over her neck. Three of her fingers are broken, and Alex shakes her head slightly. 

"Seems more deliberate to me," she finishes. 

Astra tilts her head slightly. 

"But, you thought the same, before you saw them?" she presses.

The word  _ them _ seems to catch in her throat, and Alex feels her own tightening sharply. She hesitates, and says, "There’s nothing concrete, but I had a look around her place. If it was a burglary, they sure left a lot of valuable things behind." 

There’s another long pause, where Astra stares at her with those sharp, intense eyes, and Alex turns her attention back to the chart. She’s not really seeing anything, too aware of how Astra’s watching her, and then, Astra speaks again.

"Was anything noticeably out of place?" she asks. “They wouldn’t let me in to see the place.”

Alex rolls her shoulders. 

"It looked like there’d been some sort of struggle, but aside from that…’ She trails off again, and she can already hear Henshaw berating her for telling Astra  _ too much _ , when she’s the one who should be answering questions for Alex. 

"One of her desk drawers was completely empty," she continues, nevertheless, eyeing Astra. "Any idea what might’ve been in it?"

“The bottom left?" Astra asks.

When Alex nods in affirmation, she scowls. 

"She kept her case files there,” she says.

Alex lets out a short breath. Well, that certainly changes things. 

"What was she working on?" she asks.

Astra shrugs slightly. 

"You’d have to ask her colleagues," she says, and then gives Alex a long, searching look. “You’re going to take this seriously?"

Alex frowns. "Why wouldn’t I?"

Before Astra can answer, the door swings open and Max steps into the room, munching casually on a hot dog. 

Alex resists the urge to roll her eyes. "What is it, Max?"

“Time’s up", he says lightly, apparently completely unaware of the way Astra has placed herself between him and Alura again. "Boss wants us back." 

He glances over at Astra, and gives her an easy smile.

"Hey there, In-Ze. Chained yourself to any trees lately?"

Alex sighs. Well, Max has never claimed tactfulness as his forte.

Astra doesn’t seem perturbed, though. Her expression remains cool and unmoved, and she gestures at Max’s hot dog. 

"What kind?” she asks. “I’m rather hungry." 

He looks caught off guard, and shrugs slightly. "Pork." 

Astra frowns. "Isn’t cannibalism illegal, detective?"

Max chokes on his hotdog, and Alex manages to turn her snort into a cough, covering her mouth with her hand and trying not to notice the way Astra glances at her, the corner of her mouth lifting briefly as if she’s pleased. Max scowls, pounding his own chest, and Alex shoos him out of the room. 

"Alright,” she says hurriedly. “Let’s get going." 

Still coughing, he retreats out the door, and Alex turns to face Astra again. 

"Thanks for your time, Miss In-Ze. We’ll be in contact if we have any questions." 

Astra gives her that same long, searching look.

"I have something for you,” she says abruptly. “It could be helpful for the case.”

Alex hesitates, well aware that Max is going to tell her to drop this, but finds herself nodding. "Uh... alright." 

Astra rummages in her pocket and retrieves a slightly bent card, which Alex slips into her pocket without glancing at it. Astra is one of those people that’s hard to look away from, once you’ve started staring. 

And then, Astra glances over at Alura again, and the corners of her mouth turn down. 

"She has a daughter, you know,” she says. "Kara".

The sudden heaviness in Astra’s voice gives Alex pause.

“Oh,” she says, and then, “How old is she?"

“Ten." 

Alex feels a peculiar tightening in her chest. For a very brief moment, she’s standing on the landing of her family home, staring down through the bannisters as her mother crumples into an officer’s arms. 

Then, she shakes herself, the memory dissolving.

“Where is she?" she asks.

“With friends." 

It’s a deliberately vague answer, but there’s that protectiveness straightening Astra’s shoulders again, so Alex doesn’t push. Astra reaches down to brush her fingers along Alura’s cheek.

"She… she stays with me, every Monday night,” she murmurs. “Has for a few months now, ever since Alura’s workload increased." 

Alex frowns slightly. She wonders if that’s a coincidence, that Alura was attacked on the very night she’d be alone in the house. She opens her mouth-

And then, there’s a sharp knock on the door. 

"Come on, Danvers!’ Max calls from outside, sounding irritated.

Alex scowls again.

"I really should go,” she says. “But we’ll find whoever attacked her." 

Astra gives her another long, loaded look. Alex tries not to feel like she’s burning beneath her gaze. Then Astra sighs.

"I doubt it,” she says. “But, I believe you’ll try." 

* * *

Alex is quiet during the ride back to the station, not even fighting Max to be the one to get to drive. That does get her a couple of curious glances from him, as they crawl through the traffic.

“Don’t tell me you’re taking her seriously,” he says.

Alex glances at him.

“Who?” she lies.

Max smirks, like he knows exactly what she’s trying to do. 

“The sister,” he says. “You’re new here, so you’re not acquainted with her yet, but believe me when I say you will be.”

Alex frowns. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I mean that Astra In-Ze never met a cause or a conspiracy theory she didn’t like,” Max says, rolling his eyes. “She’s brought in regularly into the station; the only reason she never stays in there long is because her sister gets her out.”

Alex deflates. “Oh, that kind.”

“Yep,” he says, then stares sideways at her again, while he’s parked at a red light. “Seeing as both our shifts are going to be over soon, wanna catch some lunch after?”

Alex stiffens.

“Max...” she starts, her tone making no secret of how pissed off she is.

“Relax,” he says. “I know you’re gay, Danvers. I’m just asking if you want to have a bite together. I can show you some of the cop spots, since you’re new here and Henshaw told me to show you the ropes.”

Alex relaxes. That’s the thing about Max, even back when they had trained together at the academy. He’s always been smarmy, but he had never crossed the line that so many other trainees had had no problem crossing. In his own douchebag way, he’d been weirdly more respectful of her sexuality than most of the more pleasant trainees, who’d thought they might change Alex’s mind if they were just nice enough to her.

“Maybe tomorrow,” she says, scowling. “I need to get my bike taken in today; the brakes need checking.”

“Your loss,” Max says, shrugging, and revs the car up again as the light turns green.

Alex, well aware that her bike is in tip top shape after the maintenance inspection it had gotten the previous week, fingers the pocket of her trousers, where she’d tucked away the business card that Astra had given her. 

* * *

Maybe it’s just unrealistic expectations from watching too many courtroom dramas, but Alex has always kind of thought that lawyer’s offices are posh, with expensive wood furniture and glass panelling, ensconced in the towering skyscrapers that rise up in the downtown heart of Metropolis.

She looks down at the card that Astra had snuck into her hand, and back up at the building that she’s standing in front of. It’s a respectable building, and it certainly looks neat from the outside, but it doesn’t look like the kind of place that would host a law firm going by the name of  _ Lane & Lane LLP _ . Not to mention, it’s in an unremarkable midtown area, far from the posh downtown law offices that Alex thinks a hotshot like Alura In-Ze would have been employed at. __

Alex frowns. If this isn’t Alura’s place of employment, then why has Astra bothered to give her this card?

Huffing out an exasperated breath at her own indecision, she opens the door to the building, bypasses the front office clerk by simply flashing her badge at her, and goes straight to the third floor office marked on the business card.

The woman who opens the door to Alex’s door is short and harried looking, and has  _ Lucy Lane  _ emblazoned on the metal plaque pinned to her blazer. She looks a little exasperated, when she takes in the badge that Alex holds out.

“Detective, I’m not sure which casefiles you’re here to take,” she says, “But office hours are in the evening.”

Alex pauses, thrown off her stride. One look beyond Lucy Lane shows her a glimpse into a very tidy but unremarkable office, with only one other person in there, who seems to be some kind of secretary.

“You’re mistaken,” Alex says. “I’m not sure which case files you’re talking about, but I’m not here to take any. I’m here to talk to you about an investigation into a possible murder attempt.”

“ _ Shit. _ ” Lucy Lane looks rattled. “Then you’re definitely not here about the pro bono cases from the court, I’m guessing. Come in, come in.”

“Thank you ma’am.” Alex steps in.

“It’s Lucy, not ma’am,” says Lucy, with a grimace. 

“Alex,” Alex says, figuring that it wouldn’t hurt to build up a rapport. 

She follows Lucy silently to her office, before she reveals the reason for her visit.

“I’m here about what happened to Alura In-Ze,” she says.

Lucy lets out a deep breath. As she takes her seat, she somehow looks older, and a sad smile graces her face.

“You know, I think I knew, the moment you said you weren’t here for the files,” she says. And then, “Who sent you?”

“I went to the hospital where Miss In-Ze is being treated,” Alex says. “I happened to run into her sister there, and she pressed your business card on me, just as I was leaving.”

Lucy’s eyes widens. “Astra In-Ze trusted a cop _?_ _Damn._ ”

Alex feels uncomfortable, all of a sudden, and is glad she had decided to go plain clothes for this interview.

“I told her that I think there’s more to this case than just a simple burglary gone wrong,” she says, quietly. “No one else in my precinct thinks so, but-”

She trails off, hoping Lucy might pick up that bit of bait. 

“Well, if Astra trusts you, there must be something to you,” Lucy mutters, looking at her. “Alright, what do you want to know?”

Alex shrugs, a little helplessly.

“Anything?” she ventures, and then decides to go with the easiest question to get answered. “Did Miss In-Ze work here? Is that why her sister gave me your business card?”

“No,” says Lucy. The word is dragged out slowly. “At least, not exactly.”

Alex frowns. “Explain, please.”

Lucy sighs.

“I started this law firm when I resigned my commission,” she says, sitting back in her chair. “I just... I guess I wanted to use my law degree for good, for a change, to actually help people. So, I decided from the start that at least half my hours were going to be dedicated to doing pro bono work.”

Alex holds back a confused frown, not knowing whether this is going anywhere. On the other hand, it’s rare to have someone be this open to her with their statement, so she decides not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

“And Miss In-Ze helped you?” she guesses.

“Kind of?” Lucy replies. “Alura was... is, actually a senior associate at  _ Grant & Crane LLP _ .” 

She smiles at Alex’s mystified look. 

“Don’t worry,” she says. “You wouldn’t have heard of them. Suffice to say they  _ own _ the market on white collar cases, in this city. Big posh office downtown, the city mayor on speed dial, the works.”

“I see,” Alex says. “Then, why was she helping you with your cases?”

Lucy sighs.

“Because Alura felt the same way as me,” she says. “She wanted to do something good with her skills, instead of just getting corrupt CEOs out of prison time. Her own company would never let her waste her precious billable hours on something as useless as pro bono work, so she started helping me out in her spare time.”

Alex breathes out. Now she realizes why Astra had sent her here, rather than to Alura’s actual place of employment.

“Do you know anything about why this could have happened to her?” she asks. 

Lucy frowns. 

“The thing is,” she starts, “She had so little spare time that she wasn’t really heavily involved in any of my cases. Except-”

She trails off. Alex leans forward, trying not to outwardly show how fast her heart is suddenly beating.

“Except what, m... Lucy?”

“There’s this hopeless case,” Lucy says. “No fucking chance of getting it off the ground. I’ve been holding onto it for years with no hope. I asked her to take a look at it, to see if she could possibly get a foothold that we could leverage.”

Alex wants to yell at her to make some damn sense and stop being so cryptic, but reins herself in. 

“What case?” she asks, so much more calmly than she feels.

“It’s not one of our usual defense cases,” Lucy says. “Actually, it’s not a defense case at all. It’s a potential large scale child trafficking case.”

Alex sits up straight.  _ “What?” _

Lucy looks cagey. “Look, I can’t get into details. You seem nice but...” She trails off and sighs. “You just never know, in this day and age.”

“If it’s child trafficking, I damn well want to know the details!” Alex says, finally losing her temper. “ _ Tell me.” _

Lucy eyes her. She doesn’t look intimidated, but there’s also a new gleam in her eyes.

“It’s mostly undocumented kids,” she says quietly. “And kids from families steeped in poverty. About a dozen of them total, with the same kind of story, all pointing to the same person. But there’s never been any proof, and none of them dared to go to the police with their stories.”

Alex breathes out, her stomach bottoming out.

“No one would believe them without proof anyway,” Lucy says, shrugging. “To be honest, I’m not sure if I believe there’s anything there myself, or if it’s just some unconnected cases that are weirdly similar by coincidence. Like I said, we’ve never been able to get any actual proof, or any paper trail.”

“Proof of what?” Alex asks, that sick feeling not leaving her stomach, even though she knows she’s supposed to remain unmoved, she’s not supposed to  _ care _ .

“That the person who we think ran the operation, is actually connected to any of the kidnappings,” Lucy says. “They’ve hid their tracks well, and all the cases are from more than five years ago. For two years I’ve had this case sitting on the backburner, and not once have I been able to find anything that could help us move forward with a lawsuit. Which is why I asked Alura to take a look at the case.”

“And did she find anything?” Alex asks. 

Lucy shrugs helplessly.

“I don’t know,” she says. “All I know is that day before she was attacked, she called me on her cellphone, and she sounded so excited. She told me that she might have found something, and that she wanted to talk to me in person about it.”

“And then?” Alex asks, barely remembering to breathe, now.

“She had to cut the call short because she had a meeting at work,” Lucy says, her face crumpling for a moment before she recovers. “I was supposed to see her the next evening, to discuss whatever it was she had found, but she got attacked that very night.” 

She looks down at her desk. Alex thinks she might be trying very hard not to cry, which baffles her a little.

Alex decides to take a leap of faith.

“Am I imagining it,” she begins, quietly, “Or was there more to you and Miss In-Ze than simply a working relationship?”

Lucy looks up. She seems startled, and her eyes are glassy with unshed tears. Then she smiles a little.

“I remember the first day she came here,” she says, looking far beyond Alex, still smiling. “I knew who she was, of course, as soon she walked in through the door. Everyone who’s anyone in this profession knows who Alura In-Ze is. Just as a summer intern, she crafted a briefing on the Luthor case that's still legendary in the law circles. And she wanted to help  _ me. _ ”

Alex feels uncomfortable, as if she’s intruding on something private. At the same time, she can’t help but feel profoundly moved, by the obvious love in Lucy’s voice. Whoever Alura In-Ze might be, there’s no doubt that she’s impacted people like Lucy and Astra so thoroughly that they’re moved to tears at the mere memory of her. 

And then, Alex realizes that she has left a very important question unasked.

“So, who is the person whom you suspect is behind the operation?” she asks.

Lucy looks at her oddly. 

“Let’s be clear,” she says. “Your use of the present tense is inaccurate. This is an operation that wrapped up at least five years ago. The person has since then used their wealth to move up in society, and they’ve hidden every trace of how they initially got that wealth.” 

Alex feels frustrated again.

“But  _ who _ is it?” she asks.

Lucy looks to her side, and then back at Alex.

“You’re going to dismiss my words right out the gate, once you hear the name,” she says.

Alex tries really fucking hard not to lose her temper again, at that.

“Why don’t you tell me who it is, and let me decide?” she asks, managing to stay calm by a miracle.

“Rhea Daxham,” Lucy says, simply.

In the silence that follows that name, Alex fully appreciates why Lucy had hesitated to say it. In fact, Alex strongly battles an urge to walk out of the office right then and there, realizing that Max has been right from the start. As usual, even though he’s an arrogant prick, he’s been bang on the money. Alex has just been giving a bunch of nutcases too much credulity.

“Rhea Daxham,” she echoes. “You think  _ U.S. Representative Rhea Daxham _ is behind this? The woman who holds barbecues for her community every weekend? The one who volunteers at soup kitchens in her spare time? The one who hosted a walk in for cancer just last month?”

Lucy doesn’t look surprised by her reaction.

“I told you,” she says.

And Alex should just walk out of there right now, she knows. She should go tell Max everything tomorrow, buy him lunch or something to make up for not trusting his judgment. 

Instead, she takes a deep breath, and flips her notebook back open.

“I’m not saying I even remotely believe you,” she warns Lucy, when a gleam of hope enters the woman’s eyes. “But, tell me more.”

* * *

“What the hell were you thinking?” Hank Henshaw says.

He looks coldly furious, as he stares down Alex. But, Alex isn’t in the mood to take a tirade lying down, not when she has spent a sleepless night tossing and turning, after her interview with Lucy.

“I was doing my job,” she says. “You asked me to investigate the break in. I’m investigating it.”

“You were told to do a routine sweep of a routine burglary,” Henshaw growls. “And now, I find out you’re going on a wild goose chase about some murder attempt, based on the words of a woman who makes QAnon look sane?”

Alex takes a deep breath, knowing how colossal a mistake it will be to lose her temper at her boss, when she’s not even a month into this job.

“It’s not simply based on Astra In-Ze’s words,” she says. “You asked me to investigate. I’m not saying there’s an actual murder that was attempted. I’m just making sure that all bases of the investigation are covered.”

“Don’t lie to me,” Henshaw snaps. “If this was just about you doing your job, you wouldn’t be wasting your time taking statements from  _ defense lawyers  _ when you’re off duty.”

“I wasn’t sure if anything was going to pan out of my visit to Lucy Lane,” Alex lies, smoothly. “I didn’t want to waste both my time and Max’s by dragging him on a wild goose chase. That’s why I followed it up on my own time.”

She doesn’t add on, “And why the fuck are you having your own cops followed?”

Henshaw looks only mildly placated.

“Wasting your time is exactly what you’re doing,” he says. “You’re wading into dangerous waters, Danvers.”

Alex stiffens.

“I was given to understand that was kind of my job, sir,” she says.

Henshaw looks exasperated.

“You’re lucky I’m not taking you off this case entirely,” he informs her. “But from now on, I’m assigning the Kyle robbery case as your priority.  _ Everything  _ takes a back burner to that, understood? Even your pet little murder theory.” 

Alex nods mutely, realizing that maybe she’s almost pushed her luck too far, with that last retort.

“Understood?” he repeats.

“Understood,” Alex echoes, and throws him a mock salute, before stalking out of his office.

* * *

Alex is still seething when she heads out to lunch, feeling only slightly bad about breaking her promise to join Max. Instead, she buys a sandwich from the nearby deli, and seats herself at an out-of-the-way table, marinating in her outrage at being treated like a toddler just for doing her job.

The worst thing is, Hank Henshaw had been part of the reason she’d wanted to join the force in the first place. She’s heard so many stories from her father about how much he’s fought to change a corrupt system, and forge a police force that actually helps people.

And instead, Alex is stuck with just another has-been who doesn’t even want her to do her job properly.

She’s too busy stewing in her own thoughts to notice someone headed her way, until the chair opposite hers is pulled out, and Astra In-Ze sits herself down in front of Alex.

“Go away,” Alex says, glaring at her. “I’ve gotten into enough trouble at work because of you already.”

Astra doesn’t look the slightest bit repentant, as she gets comfortable in the chair. She’s wearing a dark jacket despite the relatively mild weather outside, with her distinctive hair hidden inside the pulled up hoodie. There are deep circles lining her eyes. 

“I didn’t force you to take this case,” she reminds Alex.

Alex looks away, and scowls at the wall.

“What do you want?”, she asks it, because that’s somehow easier than asking Astra directly.

“To know if you’ve made any headway,” Astra replies.

“That’s classified,” Alex says. “If you think I’m simply going to lay out my investigations findings to some-”

“Some jailbird off the streets?” Astra finishes for her, dryly. “Is that what they’ve told you?”

Alex glances at her, trying not to fiddle when she sees how intently Astra is staring back at her. “Isn’t it true?”

A smile pulls up one side of Astra’s lips. “I’ll admit I’ve had a few close shaves with the law.”

Alex’s whistles out her breath between her teeth, trying to figure out if she’s about to make a horrendously unprofessional mistake.

“I talked to Lucy Lane,” she says, after a moment of silence.

When she looks back at Astra, she sees that she still has her rapt attention.

“I thought she might know something,” Astra says. “She’d never disclose anything to someone like me, but-”

She trails off, but Alex nods.

“There’s a potential lead,” she says. “There’s a case Alura was working on... I can’t give much details but, apparently Alura found some new information in connection to it. She called Lucy about it, the day before her home was broken into.”

Astra frowns. “What kind of new information?”

“She wasn’t able to discuss it with Lucy before she was attacked, so we don’t know,” Alex says. 

“Then, what was the case Alura was working on?” Astra asks, beginning to look frustrated.

Alex purses her lips. “I’m not telling you that.”

When Astra glares at her, she glares right back.

“I may be able to help,” Astra says, tensely. “My sister often relied on me to get access to information for her cases that she wasn’t able to get by more... conventional methods.”

Alex blinks.

“And would this,” she says, after a while. “Explain why you ended up in lockup so often, and why she was so willing to get you out every time?”

Astra crosses her arms, and doesn’t reply. Alex smirks, figuring she’s finally scored a point.

“I can help,” Astra repeats, leaning forward. “I’ll do anything you ask me to.”

Alex flushes, and looks away again from that intense stare.

“Fine,” she says, not giving herself time to consider if she’s making another mistake. “I’ll give you one thing to do... if you can find or remember anything related to Representative Rhea Daxham that your sister might have told you, let me know. It could be relevant.”

Astra frowns, and opens her mouth, looking unsatisfied. This time, it’s Alex who crosses her arms and glares forbiddingly across the table. 

“That’s all I’ve got for you,” she says. “Take it or leave it, Astra.”

Finally, Astra looks away, and nods. “You’ve got a deal, detective.”

Then, she surprises Alex, by reaching across the table. Her hand covers Alex’s, stroking the knuckles fleetingly, before pressing down. 

“Thank you,” she whispers. “For being the first one to care.”

Alex studies the hand covering hers, the beautifully tapered fingers, the veins so stark and translucent as if their owner hasn’t gotten enough rest, and remembers to breathe again.

“Uh-huh,” she says, eloquently.

* * *

Alex has jogged a few blocks from her apartment when she senses she's being followed. She's stopped at an intersection, breathing slowly to catch her breath, when the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. 

Without panicking, she does a few stretches, extending her arms to the side and bending them at the elbows, twisting her body at the waist to make a quick glance behind her, and spots a figure in a dark hoodie across the street from her. They're a bulky figure, and seem to be on their phone, and while Alex doesn't know for sure, she's learned to trust her gut over the years.

When the lights turn green, she resumes jogging at the same pace, turning down a street with a row of shops and jogging a few doors down before she stops, staring into the shop window while she waits to see if the figure makes the same turn.

They do. 

Her adrenaline spikes, and Alex starts to jog again, weaving down the streets towards her apartment. She cuts across a small park, leaps over a low fence, and breathes a little easier once her apartment building comes into view. She's crossing the street towards the entrance when a figure looms up in her peripheral vision, barrelling towards her, and she reacts just in time to raise her hand, catching the brunt of a heavy blow on her upper arm instead of her head. The force of it knocks her sideways into the wall, and she braces her hands against rough brick to push herself away, avoiding the second blow that chips at old paint, scrambling away and out of reach.

It's the same figure that was following her, and they're wielding a police baton in a gloved hand. Beneath their hoodie, they're wearing a balaclava, but their voice is rough.

"Back off the In-Ze case."

Alex's heart races, and she shoves her hand in her pocket, grabbing her keys and fitting them between her fingers as she readies herself for her assailant to charge. 

"Or what?” she snaps back. “You gonna try and kill me too? You're a pretty shit assassin, you know."

He charges at her, and Alex waits for the last second to duck and roll, bringing her arm out and slicing her keys across the man's leg as he passes her. There's a roar of pain, and she rolls to her feet to see him turning towards her, murder in his eyes. He moves faster than she expected, the baton smacking against her shoulder and sending her sprawling to the ground. Her head knocks sharply against the wall, and for a moment she's stunned as he looms up over her. 

There's a resounding crack, but Alex doesn’t feel any pain. She blinks, her vision clearing to reveal a figure standing over her, and her attacker backing away, cradling a hand to his face. He's dropped the baton, and the newcomer picks it up, twirling it once and making a sharp movement towards the man. Alex pushes herself up slowly in time to see him turn tail and flee.

"He's getting away!” she says.

The figure turns, and Astra crouches down beside her with a faint crease between her brows. 

"Nevermind", she murmurs, "are you alright?" 

Alex nods, and then groans as her head throbs. Astra grips her upper arm and hauls her upright with surprising ease.

"Come on,” she says. “Which apartment is yours?"

She loops her arm around Alex's waist, and ignores Alex's protests as she practically carries her up the stairs. She's much stronger than Alex had previously realised, warm and solid against her side. When she reaches the door, Alex looks down at her bloodied keys with a frown. 

"Oh…” she says, in realisation. “My keys are evidence now, aren’t they?"

Astra props her up against the wall.

"Close your eyes," she says. 

Alex frowns at her, but shuts her eyes. There are some rustling sounds, a faint click, and Alex opens her eyes to see her door swinging open. 

"Hey! Did you just break in?"

Astra wraps her arm around her waist again. There’s a slight smile playing around her mouth, despite the circumstances. 

“I don't know what you're talking about, detective," she says.

Alex grumbles, but she must've hit her head harder than she realised, because she can't find it within her to argue. Astra steers her around the space like it's familiar to her, and settles her down on the couch. Alex squints up at her. 

"Have you broken in before?" she asks.

Astra offers her a tight smile, the corners of her eyes still crinkled with concern. 

"Here?” she asks. “No. In general? Many times. Now, where's your first aid kit?"

“Bathroom cabinet." Alex rests her head in her hands. "But I'm fine!'

“Of course you are." Astra says, returning after a moment, and pressing a glass and some aspirin onto her hands. "Here." 

Alex sighs, taking the water and swallowing the aspirin while Astra kneels on the couch beside her to examine her head. Alex closes her eyes, leaning her head slightly against Astras shoulder and letting herself take in everything that just happened. 

"Thanks", she says finally, her voice coming out a little stilted. "For… you know. Saving my life."

“As you said, he was a poor assassin."

Alex snorts. "You heard that?"

“Admirable of you, to goad him into thoughtless action,” Astra comments. “Stupid, but admirable.”

There's a twinge of pain in her scalp, and Alex winces. Astra murmurs an apology.

"I'm just glad I was there," she says, more softly this time.

“But, why were you there?" Alex asks.

She wishes she could see Astra’s face more clearly. It's hard to get a read on someone when you can't see their expressions. 

“I wanted to ask you if there were any updates to the case," Astra says. 

She sits back, settling into the couch beside her with a heavy sigh. For the first time, Alex really focuses on her face, and sees how dark the bags under her eyes are. An odd emotion swells in her chest.

“You know,” she says, “That guy was probably the one who attacked your sister, Astra." 

Astra glances at her, a faint frown furrowing her brows. Alex wonders what she looks like when she smiles. 

"Your point?" Astra asks.

“You let him go." Alex is aware it might sound accusing, and she half lifts her hand. "I mean… you didn't have to stop to take care of me."

Astra’s frown seems to deepen. She stares at Alex for a long moment.

"I was aware of the choice I was making,” she says, eventually. 

Alex opens her mouth, and then closes it again. She remembers the way Astra hunched over Alura in the hospital room, and decides that even though she doesn’t understand the choice, she won’t diminish it by questioning it. Instead, she gestures at the keys.

“Well, hopefully his DNA is on file somewhere." 

A thought occurs to her, and she glances at the woman with a frown. 

"I’m surprised you felt comfortable leaving your sister,” she says.

“I have someone watching her," Astra says. "She’s safe."

She runs a hand through her hair, curling it into a fist and resting her temple against it, and Alex wonders if she’s gotten any sleep since this started. Then, Astra turns those intense eyes towards Alex.

"I would think that this attack proves we were right,” she says. “It certainly wasn’t a burglary." Her brow furrows tightly. "And you think Rhea Daxham has something to do with this?"

Alex hesitates out of habit, but Astra did just save her life. Not only that, but Alex has been feeling like she’s alone in this case for a while. Henshaw is intent on heading her off at any chance he gets, and Max seems to be humouring her out of sympathy, which is somehow worse. 

"I only know what Lucy told me," she says. 

Astra shifts a little closer, their knees bumping together on the couch. 

"Tell me,” she says. “Please." 

Alex swallows, and inclines her head slightly. The throbbing at the back of her head is still there, but it doesn’t seem as bad as it did moments ago. 

"About five years ago, there were numerous child trafficking cases,” she says. “Kids from poor and underprivileged families, and the police... didn’t follow up.”

“Or... didn’t want to?" Astra asks, raising her eyebrows.

Alex feels a prickle of discomfort in her throat, and rubs her hand over the back of her neck. 

“Maybe,” she admits, before clearing her throat and continuing. "Lucy told me that she and Alura both suspected Rhea was in charge back then, though it’s no longer active. Apparently Alura had found some sort of proof, before she was attacked." 

Astra scowls. 

"Idiot", she says, her voice choked with so much emotion that Alex reaches out instinctively to place a hand on her knee. 

Astra shoots her a startled glance, but some of the tension in her shoulders eases. 

"She always did want to right all the wrongs in this world." Her eyes are overbright, and she clears her throat sharply. "I always… admired that."

Alex gives her knee a slight squeeze, the corner of her mouth curling in a smile. "I mean, sounds like you’ve tried to do plenty of that yourself." 

At Astra’s quizzical look, she elaborates. "I looked at your file. A real eco warrior, you are." 

Astra’s lips twitch in a shadow of a smile, but she lays her hand over Alex’s, and gives it a slight squeeze. 

" _ My _ antics didn’t almost get me killed." Her brow furrows, as she continues. "The evidence she found… I assume that was what they were looking for, in her office." 

Alex nods. 

"Though… they might not have found it,” she says. “I don’t see why they’d attack me, otherwise."

Astra looks thoughtful. 

"I'll take a look,” she says. “I might be able to find something, anything." She glances at Alex. "Will you be alright, though?"

The concern in her voice makes the back of Alex's neck turn hot. 

"Oh, yeah,” she says, trying to sound breezy, a word no one could have ever associated with her. “I've definitely had worse." 

She gestures at her bloody keys, now sitting safely in a ziplock. 

"I'll run them down to the station and tell my boss what happened. Maybe he'll start taking it seriously."

"I hope so. For your sake, at least." There's that concern again, and Astra still hasn't removed her hand. 

Then, again neither has Alex. 

"I wouldn't blame you,” Astra says. “If this attack has made you… wary, of continuing to work my sister’s case." 

“You kidding? I'm not that easily intimidated." Alex gives her a small smile. "And I made a promise, remember?"

Astra gives her a long, searching look, and Alex finds it difficult to look away. Maybe it's that she doesn't want to. After a long moment, Astra almost seems to smile. 

"I suppose you did," she says, softly. “You’re a brave one, detective.”

* * *

The problem is that, as the days pass, Henshaw seems intent on keeping his promise to keep Alex too busy to work the In-Ze case. Aside from the high-profile Kyle robbery case that he hounds her every day about, Alex finds herself piled up with cases of everything from petty theft to bar brawls. Just writing up the paperwork on all of them has her working overtime everyday, and trudging to bed late and exhausted. It’s exactly what Henshaw wants, she knows, but she also wants him to know that he can’t break her spirit simply by exhausting her to the point of giving up.

It’s after another long day of investigations, when Alex simply wants to go to bed and fall into an exhausted coma, that sleep eludes her. She’s usually pretty good at being out like a light as soon as she hits the bed. 

That night, though, Alex tosses and turns, pursued by relentless dreams about a dark figure watching her, stalking Alex resolutely no matter where she runs. Alex tosses this way and that under the sheets, never getting comfortable, until she finally sits bolt upright in bed, eyes wide open in terror.

And that’s when she realizes that her dreams had not, in fact, been dreams. There  _ is _ a dark figure sitting by the side of her bed, watching her.

Before Alex can scream, or shout for help, the figure speaks.

“It’s me,” Astra says, tilting her head a little to face Alex, so that her tumultuous curtain of hair reveals her pale, ravaged face.

“Astra!” Alex scrambles back, and draws the bedsheets up to her chest. “What the fuck!”

But, Astra doesn’t pursue her retreat. She stays seated at the foot of Alex’s bed, with a face wracked by grief.

“I didn’t know where else to go,” she says, and her voice sounds like it’s moments away from breaking. “Alex, I don’t know what to do.”

Alex blinks, taking deep breaths as her heart rate returns to normal. She decides to table her anger at being woken up this way for now, and focus on what could have made the normally stoic Astra come undone like this.

“What’s wrong?” Alex asks, more gently. “What don’t you know what to do about?”

“It was my fault,” Astra says.

She’s a wreck, with dark circles under her eyes, and her hair crisscrossed in flyaway strands. She looks frayed, a woman at the end of her tether, and the shock of that dissolves the last remaining traces of sleep from Alex’s system.

“What’s your fault?” she asks, ripping off her covers and hurrying over to sit next to Astra on the bed, studying her carefully in the moonlight.

“Why Alura was attacked,” Astra says, hoarsely. “I’ve just realized... it was due to  _ my _ actions.”

Alex takes her time replying, her focus mostly on checking Astra for any physical damage. She doesn’t seem to be actually hurt, but the haunted look in her eyes sends frissons up Alex’s spine.

“Don’t talk like that,” Alex says. “What happened to Alura was the cruel act of a remorseless criminal, Astra. Don’t blame yourself for it.”

Astra rapidly shakes her head. “You don’t understand.”

She shakes off Alex’s hand, that had been tracing over her cheek, and gets up, pacing up and down Alex’s tiny bedroom instead.

“My sister asked me to find her some documents, the week before she was attacked,” she says, still pacing in that feverish way. “I didn’t think much of it; she’s asked me to do that kind of investigative work more than once, and of course I succeeded at it, but-”

She pauses. Alex, bursting with curiosity, rushes to prompt her.

“But this time it was different?” she guesses.

Astra nods.

“I didn’t realize it, when I gave the documents to her,” she says. “She asked me to uncover some old filing documents of a company called Gand Enterprises, and I did so, although the documents had conveniently gone missing from their usual storage place, until I tracked them down.”

“Gand Enterprises?” Alex wrinkles her forehead. “Doesn’t ring a bell.”

“Nor did it for me at the time,” Astra says. “But I’ve looked deeper into it, and one of the founding members of that company is Lawrence Gand, although he’s long since left the company. He’s retired young and has a charming little family now, in Opal City, with his third wife, who I believe is on the local PTA. But, I’ve looked a little deeper into him, and realized who his first wife was.”

She pauses in her pacing, and looks back at Alex.

“Oh,” Alex whispers, immediately guessing where this is going. “His ex-wife is Rhea, isn’t it?”

Astra nods her head. 

“If only I had known, I’d never have given Alura those documents,” she says, with a sudden viciousness in her voice. “I’d have burned them myself, and justice be damned!”

But Alex’s mind is racing far ahead. 

“It must have been a shell company,” she says. “To launder the money from the trafficking business. That’s why your sister wanted you to find the documents, so she could trace the cash flow from the company to Rhea!”

Astra nods, looking wretched.

“And I threw the proof right into her hands,” she says, her voice choked. “The very next day, she was attacked. I might have just shot her myself, Alex, and saved them the trouble.”

“No!” Alex surprises herself with how vehement her denial is. “Shut up and stop blaming yourself, Astra! Do you think that self-pity is going to bring your sister back?”

She realises that she’s stunned Astra, who looks a little angry and affronted now. Alex is kind of glad to see it, though, because it’s better than the anguish that she had seen on it before.

“Come here,” she says, more softly. 

Astra comes to her like a puppy, lowering herself to her knees in front of Alex’s perch on the bed, so that they’re looking at each other.

“Don’t blame yourself, alright?” Alex says, gently. “You were just trying to help your sister in her goal of bringing a heartless criminal to justice. You could have had no idea that it would come to this.”

Astra stares up at her, her gaze pleading as if she can find mercy or redemption in Alex’s eyes, for what she imagines her crimes to be. Alex feels her heart clench painfully, not knowing what she’s done to deserve that kind of trust or near-worship. Instead, she does the only thing she knows how to do.

Without letting herself reconsider her actions, she draws Astra up, cocooning the woman in her arms, and tucking her head into the curve of Alex’s own neck.

“It’s going to be okay,” she murmurs. “We’re going to find a way through this, and your sister is going to be fine, okay?”

Astra for all her build and height, seems strangely fragile in her arms. When Alex squeezes her tighter, hoping that it might be of some comfort, she begins to shake, and Alex feels a wetness against her shoulder, as Astra begins to sob. Alex lets her cry it out, until her pyjama shirt is soaked through with tears, not saying anything other than an occasional comforting whisper, and stroking the back of her shoulders. 

“You’re different,” Astra says, many minutes later.

Her tears have dried up, but she seems unwilling to remove her head from where it’s hidden in the crook of Alex’s neck.

“Different how?” Alex murmurs, who’s fully content to keep her right there, breathing in the light scent of her soap.

“You’re the first one who’s listened,” Astra murmurs. “The officers of this city... I have talked to them before, about... other things, and they’ve always blown me off.”

Alex feels something in her chest tighten. She’d really thought this job would let her help people, would actually let her bring some kind of order to this broken city, but-

“Yeah, I’m starting to get that feeling,” she admits in defeat, and then, before she can consider her words, she confesses further. “I think there might be a mole in our department, even.”

At this, Astra draws back and looks at her, her forehead drawn into a thick furrow.

“Do you think that’s why you were attacked?” she asks, alarm dawning on her face.

Alex shrugs helplessly, remembering how Hank’s face had looked like a thundercloud, when he warned Alex not to pursue the case. 

“I think I know who it is,” she frowns. “And I think I know how to draw a little trap for him.”

Astra looks conflicted.

“Are you sure you can trap him, without him trapping you?” she asks. “I cannot always be there to save you, Alex, and you do not have eyes in the back of your head.”

It’s a little condescending, that worry, but Alex also flushes to hear that concern directed at her; most people in her life have pretty much just expected her to take care of herself, without bothering to lift a finger to help.

“Let’s worry about that tomorrow,” she says, yawning and blinking, as she realizes that she’s still very tired, despite the brief burst of adrenaline that had powered her through Astra’s revelations. “Right now, I just want to get some more sleep.”

She uses her elbows to push herself back into the top of the bed, before reaching out with her bare foot, and nudging Astra.

Astra’s eyes are wide, as she stays frozen, still kneeling by the side of the bed. Alex feels something like fondness fill her chest, at the sight of that deer-in-headlights stare from that usually self-assured face.

“Come on,” she murmurs, nudging her shoulder again. “I won’t kill you in your sleep, I swear.”

That seems to propel Astra into movement, and she climbs onto the bed, still staring at Alex like she’s something baffling. 

“You’re very strange, Alexandra Danvers.”

Alex smiles, but doesn’t reply until Astra gets under the covers, stiffly arraying herself parallel to Alex on the bed.

“I’ve heard that more often than you might think,” she says, before putting an arm lightly around Astra’s waist. “Just for tonight, I want to make sure you’re safe and that you’re actually getting some sleep, instead of running around black sites or getting shot up by Rhea’s goons. Can you do that for me?”

At her touch, Astra’s stiffness seems to melt away, and she turns slightly to face Alex.

“Yes,” she says, quietly.

Her eyes finally close, as Alex watches her. Alex feels something flip inside her, at how peaceful Astra looks in sleep, a serenity entering her features that are usually so drawn and pinched when she’s awake. 

She wants, Alex realizes, to make Astra look that way forever.

* * *

Two weeks of routine investigations go by, before Alex once again gets a call from a by-now familiar number, when she heads in to her shift early in the morning.

“MPD, Alex Danvers’ desk,” she says. 

She leans against her desk as she listens to the person on the other end, flipping the bird to Max, who’s sprawled back in his chair with his foot on his desk, watching her. He flips it right back, with the widest shit-eating grin she’s seen on a person.

“Uh-huh,” Alex says, into the phone. “She woke up yesterday night? Is she stable?”

Max raises his eyebrows.

“Tomorrow at the earliest?” Alex says. “Fair enough. We’ll be around before then, I’m sure. You too.”

She puts down the phone and turns to Max, well aware that Henshaw is standing in the doorway of his office, surveying the activity in the bullpen, as he always does at this time of day. He’s better than a clock.

“That call was from Lucy Lane,” Alex tells Max, loudly. “She’s just received an update from the hospital that Alura In-Ze has woken up.”

Max’s eyes widens.

“Dammit,” he says. “We could go over there right now and interview her, if we didn’t have an interview scheduled at Wayne Enterprises about the Kyle robbery.”

Alex nods, drumming her fingers on the table as they both stare at each other in disappointment.

“She did say that the hospital is keeping Miss In-Ze until tomorrow, to make sure she’s stable,” she says, still as loudly. “We could get there early tomorrow.”

“Right,” Max says, looking at her with a confused look. “Well, it’s only a formality, anyway. It’s not like that case is going anywhere.”

Alex shrugs.

“Still good to have our bases covered,” she comments. “Tomorrow it is, then.”

She gets up from her seat, and snatches the car keys from Max’s desk before he can react.

“Let’s get over to Wayne Enterprises before we’re late,” she says. “I’m driving.”

“Like hell you are,” Max says, snatching the keys back with a smirk before she can blink. “Why don’t you go claim shotgun while I get my coat from my locker?”

She’s definitely going to slash his tires at the end of her shift, Alex decides, as she walks outside to wait for him.

* * *

By the time Alex returns from Wayne Enterprises, she’s exhausted, to say the least. The amount of employees that had needed to be interviewed had been staggering. But, at least the robbery case seems to be getting somewhere, albeit slowly. 

“I’ll check with forensics before I clock out,” Max says, coming up next to Alex as she trudges into the station. “Maybe they got some-”

He trails off as they walk through the door, and Alex looks up, wondering what made him stop. Max is looking straight ahead, towards Alex’s desk, by which a familiar figure is waiting, with a face like a thundercloud.

Alex’s heart gives a flip. Astra.

“She looks angry, that’s a change for her,” Max murmurs, before sliding away from Alex, and escaping to his own desk. “I’ll let you take this one, Danvers.”

Alex, thus abandoned, walks over to Astra with a nervous feeling bubbling up in her chest. 

“Alex,” Astra acknowledges her, as she nears.

Alex nods, and tries to slide around her, to get behind her desk and get some semblance back of the feeling that she’s the one in charge. From the corner of her eyes, she can see Henshaw looking their way, distracted from his daily evening debriefing. He’s scowling at Astra, no doubt remembering earlier skirmishes with her from before Alex had even been transferred here. 

Astra, on the other hand, seems entirely focused on Alex.

“I haven’t heard from you for two weeks, detective,” she says, in a tense voice.

Alex sighs, determinedly not looking to her side for support, towards Max’s desk, not that he would give her any. 

“We’re looking into it, Astra,” she says. “These cases don’t tend to move as fast as the shows you watch on TV.”

“I do not watch  _ those _ shows on television,” Astra snaps, enunciating each word like a whip. “I simply want to know if you have brought my sister’s would be murderers to justice, as you promised you would.”

Alex meets her burning glare with as calm a face as she can manage. 

“I didn’t promise you anything, Astra” she says, in a tired voice. “All I said was that I would try. And your sister is alive. If what Lucy told me is correct, she’s well on her way to feeling better. Why don’t you focus on that?”

“I will not focus on that, when every new day brings the potential of a new attack!” Astra says.

“I’m not going to get into it with you about hypotheticals,” Alex says. “All I can tell you is that the more I look into this case, the less we find. I’ll admit the initial findings were suspicious, but I haven’t found any actual proof to back up my hunches, and I’ve got other assigned cases piling up.”

“Then you are not looking hard enough!”

Astra had raised her voice at the last words, and Alex hurriedly looked around, spotting Henshaw walking over, clearly about to break up the argument between them.

“Listen,” Alex says, placatingly. “Even if we do shelve the case, and I’m not saying we’re going to, it won’t be for lack of trying. We didn’t cut any corners in this, nor did we let any stone unturned. I really tried, Astra.”

She looks pleadingly at Astra, but Astra looks unconvinced. There’s a look of betrayal on her face, and it stings Alex to her core.

“I trusted you,” Astra says, after a while. “When you said you would try to see that justice was done, I truly believed you meant it. Now I see that I was wrong, and you are no better than any of the other officers who thought I was a raving fool.”

With that, she turns on her heel, and strides out of the station, without paying the slightest attention to Henshaw, who had been standing right behind her with his arms crossed.

Henshaw watches her leave with his usual expressionless face, before turning to Alex. For a moment, something unusual gleams in his eyes. 

“You’ll have to get used to that,” he says. “There will be cases you cannot solve, and there will be friends and families of the victims who’ll blame you for it.”

Alex, who feels her eyes stinging, turns away from him. “Understood. No need to rub the point in, sir.”

“That was not my intention,” Henshaw continues. “What I meant is, what she said to you was unreasonable, and-”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Alex snaps, and storms off to her locker.

* * *

In the private wing of the hospital, a doctor wanders down quiet halls. He's examining a file in his hands, his face clean shaven, his name tag obscured by the lapel of his coat. A strip of plaster and deep bruising over his nose tells of a recent break. He smiles at a passing nurse, and stops outside a nondescript door. He casts a glance around, and slips inside, drawing a syringe out of his pocket as the door swings shut behind him.

The room is lit by a dim lamp by the bed, throwing Alura's profile into sharp relief. The assassin approaches the bed, moving towards the beeping machines, and a shadow explodes out of the dark and smashes into his side. He goes down with a loud grunt, and the lights turn on to blind him.

Alex keeps her gun levelled at him.

"Stay down," she says.

Astra grabs the syringe from where it fell beside him with a gloved hand, dropping it into an evidence bag. 

"It’s empty," she reports, with a scowl. 

Alex nods. 

"Planning to inject an air bubble were you, Lockwood?" she asks, turning her attention back to her captive.

The man's eyes widen in surprise, and he sits up against the wall, nursing his bruised jaw. He makes no move for the gun, but Alex remains alert. 

"How'd you know my name?" he demands.

“Rhea shouldn't have hired someone with a criminal record," Alex says, and nods in satisfaction as Lockwood’s eyes widen. "That  _ is _ who you work for, isn't it?" 

He scowls. "You'll never prove it."

Astra moves around towards the door to place herself between him and Alura.

“My sister will wake up,” she hisses. “You still haven't found her evidence."

And then, the door behind her swings open. Alex opens her mouth to warn Astra, but it comes too late. 

Astra goes very still, as the barrel of a gun presses against her temple.

Maxwell Lord keeps his gun trained squarely on the back of her head, shutting the door behind him with the heel of his shoe. 

"Now, let's all just calm down," he says, in his easy way.

He smiles, at the shock on Alex’s face. “Oh come on, Danvers. Henshaw might have bought your little fake fight at the station this morning, but I sure didn’t. I knew you’d be up to something.”

Even as anger sweeps through her in a wave, threatening to overwhelm her, Alex doesn't lower her gun.

“What the fuck, Max?” she spits out. “I always thought you were a creep, but a  _ mole _ ?"

Max shrugs casually. 

"No, you thought Henshaw was sus, didn't you?” he asks, mouth curving in his usual smirk, the one that most of the ladies in the station swooned over. “You put so much effort into fooling  _ him _ , when the poor guy was just trying to keep you safe." 

His gaze hardens, as Alex clutches the gun more tightly. 

"Drop it, Danvers,” he says, an edge entering his voice. “You've only got yourself to blame for this."

“Why are you working for Rhea?" Alex jerks her head towards Alura's still form. "Did you have any part in this?" 

“I would think", Astra begins tersely, "that it has something to do with his inordinate amount of success over the years. Inside information is so much easier than actually putting the effort into doing investigative work, isn’t it, Mr. Lord? Gives you a lot more time to polish all your medals of commendation, does it not?” 

“Clever nut, aren't you?" Max presses his gun more firmly against Astras head, levelling Alex with a hard stare. "Now,  _ once again, _ drop your weapon."

Alex doesn't dare. Right now they're at a stalemate, but as soon as she lowers her gun, Lockwood and Max will have the upper hand. "No. You'll just kill us all, then" 

Max rolls his eyes. 

"Don't insult me,” he says, looking actually hurt. “You two will be fine, but the good lawyer will sadly die in her sleep."

Then, that bit of humanity that had crept through disappears, as he grins, and Alex wonders how she never noticed how much of a leer it is. "Maybe they can dress her in some of that fancy lingerie for the funeral."

Astra snarls, and Alex watches the skin at her temple whiten. "And you think we'd keep quiet?"

“Doesn't matter if you do. You're a loon tipped over the deep end by grief, and Danvers is a rookie who saw a conspiracy theory where there wasn't one. I, on the other hand, have a commendation from the Mayor. No one will believe you."

Alex's mind is racing. Astra is giving her a very hard, pointed look, and Alex can't work out what she's trying to say. Her hand taps against her thigh in a nervous tick. Alex frowns slightly. Surely she can't mean… 

'Well, Danvers?” Max prompts. “What's it gonna be?"

Astra widens her eyes, and Alex turns on her heel, and shoots her in the leg. Alex immediately turns her gun back on Lockwood as Astra drops with a cry of pain, and Max stumbles slightly. Then, Astra slams the point of her elbow up between his legs, and disarms him deftly when he doubles over beside her. She levels her newly acquired weapon at him, her free hand pressed tightly to the wound in her thigh.

“Nice shot,” she breathes, her eyes flickering to Alex. "Very nice shot, detective." 

Alex laughs a little hysterically. "That was what you wanted me to do, right?"

Astras smile is a little tense, the corners of her eyes creased in pain, but it's genuine. "It was." 

Alex glances at Max, still doubled over on the ground with a twisted expression, as Astra restrains him with one elbow on his back. She breathes out a sigh of relief. 

"You're lucky I went to med school, you know,” she says, to Astra. “Or, you might be bleeding out right about now."

Keeping one eye still trained on Lockwood, and trusting Astra to keep Max subdued, she takes a hand away from her gun to dig into her pocket for her phone. 

“I’m gonna call for backup,” she says.

As Alex waits for the call to go through, she can’t help but share a bright smile with Astra, relieved that they’ve both made it out of this, mostly unscathed.

“It’s a good thing you’re a better doctor than I am an actor,” Astra comments, wincing a little again, as she shifts her stance. “It seems that we didn’t manage to fool the right person with our pantomime, after all.”

“You sure fooled me,” Alex says, as she remembers how upset she had been at the look of disappointment and heartbreak on Astra’s face, despite knowing it was all an act.

Astra smiles at her again, her eyes softening, as if she knows exactly what Alex is thinking.

“Don’t look so sad, brave one,” she says. “I could never be disappointed in you.”

“Hello,” Max says, from where Astra has him pinned. “I’m right here. Can you two go be nauseating somewhere else?”

Astra presses the elbow bearing down on him just a little harder, enough to get a little grunt of him. “Was anyone talking to you, Mr. Lord?”

“Fuck you,” he mumbles, and goes limp, glaring balefully at the floor that his face is pressed down against.

Astra relaxes just a little, and looks up to give Alex a tired smile. 

"Maybe you can tell me about your medical school days, some time," she says. 

Giddy with adrenaline and relief, Alex doesn't even blink, as she replies.

"Sounds like a date to me." 

* * *

When Alex puts through the call to the station, she expects a team of officers from the night shift to join them. She doesn’t expect Hank striding through the door leading them, the deep circles under his eyes and the tousled state of his hair clearly showing that he had been woken up in the middle of the night.

“This better be good, Danvers,” he barks out. “You better have one hell of an explanation planned for why you’ve got one of my best detectives handcuffed and a known felon subduing him.”

“Don’t forget the fact that I’ve shot said felon in the leg,” Alex adds in, and then throws up her hands, when Hank turns unimpressed eyes on her. “I promise there’s a good explanation, and it involves attempted murder, robbery, and even a good old bit of child trafficking.”

“Hank, she’s crazy,” Max wheezes out, still looking out of breath. “Tell them to let me go!”

Hank lets out an aggrieved grunt as he stares at Max, and he looks just as unconvinced by Max’s claims as he is by Alex’s.

“You can both explain yourselves at the precinct,” he says.

He turns to the team behind him, and gestures at them to collect Max and Lockwood. One of the officers simply grips Max’s arm, not bothering to cuff it, while two others zip-tie Lockwood. The leftover officer zip-ties Astra too, brutally clapping her arms behind her back despite the fact she has been bracing her shot leg with one arm. Alex sees her wince, and moves forward, just in time for Astra to look up and shoot her a warning look. Alex stops, and keeps silent, seething internally.

“Station, now,” Hank barks, and the three sets of officers begin a frogmarch toward the door. 

Just as Alex, the last one to exit the room, comes out, he turns his baleful eyes to her again.

“And you’re giving me that explanation as soon as we get there, Danvers.”

* * *

It takes thirty minutes into the one hour ride back to the precinct for Max to make his escape attempt, aided by the fact that the officers hadn’t bothered to cuff him. It takes twenty more minutes to subdue him, and continue the journey. 

It takes three more hours, one of those on the phone with Metropolis’ commissioner, for Alex to explain exactly what had happened that night at the hospital.

It takes only one hour into interrogation for Lockwood to spill his guts. To his credit, Max lasts eight hours.

It takes one more week for the station to gather their ducks in a row, and break down Rhea’s with a much belated warrant. It takes nanoseconds for the most expensive defensive attorney in the state to show up at Rhea’s front door, just as they’re taking her out to the patrol car. 

It takes only two hours in lockup for Rhea to be bailed out, and eight months of gruelling court battles to get her convicted for good, aided not only by Lockwood’s panicked testimony, but also by the intricate web of evidence that a now-awake Alura teases out of the paper trail that Astra had located for her.

The day that Rhea begins her prison sentence, in the fanciest prison in the state, is the day Alex hands in her letter of resignation to Hank. Somehow, he doesn’t look surprised. Nor does he try to talk her out of it, as he leans back in his chair and studies Alex.

“Just be sure to hand in your badge at the office, and make sure that the officer taking over for you gets all your case files,” he says. 

Alex nods. When she turns to leave, he speaks again.

“Danvers.”

Alex turns back.

“I know the system is broken,” he says. “But, it could use good people like you on the inside, to reform it. If you’re looking to transfer back to the NCPD, or to some other city, you’ll get the referral you need.”

Alex smiles.

“Won’t be needing it, I’m afraid,” she says briefly. “I think I’m gonna take some time off, actually, and then go back and finish up med school.”

He still doesn’t look surprised, as he nods again. 

“Good luck with your life, Danvers.”

“You too,” Alex says, and then the rare spirit of mischief overtakes her, “J’onn.”

He looks really startled, for the first time she’s known him. Alex smirks.

“Shouldn’t have left your license out there, for me to see your legal name,” she says, pointing to his desk.

Then, she books it out the door before he can retort, other thoughts already on her mind.

She has someone to meet, after all, and a very overdue date to go on.

* * *

Alex only has to wait a handful of seconds after knocking on the front door of the new In-Ze residence before it swings open, and Kara flies out to throw her arms around her waist. "Alex!"

Alex laughs, wrapping an arm around Kara's shoulders and ruffling her hair with the other. "Hey, you little terror, hasn't anyone ever told you not to answer the door to strangers?"

"Pfft", Kara squeezes her tight, beaming up at her, "it's always either you or Lucy, and you're basically family now".

The back of her neck turns hot. "Yes, well, safety first".

Laughing, Kara grabs her hand and tugs her into the house with surprising strength, the door swinging shut behind them. 

"Everyone will be so happy to see you!” she says.

Alex laughs softly, letting Kara lead her through the house as she looks around curiously. Alura moved out of her old house a few months ago, but despite that Alex doesn't see a single packing box anywhere. Alura really seems to be one of those supermoms, she reflects, thinking back to the cardboard boxes still shoved under her bed, that have been there since she moved to Metropolis. 

Kara tugs her into a spacious, but cosy living room, and announces her arrival grandly.

"Aunt Astra, Alex is here!'

Her job being done, she runs back to the game she had obviously been in the middle of playing when Alex rang, leaving Alex free to wander to the other end of the living room.

The scene that meets her is a familiar one by now, but still amusing everytime Alex witnesses it. Astra is sprawled on the couch, a mock grumpy expression on her face, while Alura fusses over her, trying to draw a comforter up over her.

“You need to rest,” Alura is insisting. “Your leg is still healing!”

“It has been eight months since I was shot,” Astra gripes.

Despite her indignant tone, she meekly lets Alura draw the blanket snug around her, until she resembles a burrito. Alex doesn’t bother hiding her fond smile, at the incongruous sight.

“Hi, Alura,” she says, before turning to Astra, and smiling even wider at the disgruntled expression on her face. “Astra, getting ready for another nap?”

“I am under duress,” Astra complains. “Tell my sister I am fully healed, Alex.”

“Shan’t,” Alex says, throwing a conspiratorial wink at Alura.

Then, she takes pity on Astra, and moves closer to her, kneeling so she can meet Astra’s aggrieved eyes. 

“Tell you what,” she says. “I’ve got two tickets to see the new show at the botanical garden. Why don’t we see if Alura will let you accompany me to that?”

Astra grumbles a little, and after some moments of getting herself comfortable under the blankets, her head peeks out again.

“Is that the one with the orchids?” she asks. “I’ve been meaning to see that one.”

“I know you have,” Alex says. “That’s why I got the tickets.”

She looks up at Astra’s sister with a raised eyebrow, only to see Alura watching them both with a watery look in her eyes.

“If I’d known my getting attacked would allow you two to meet,” Alura announces. “I would have gotten attacked much earlier.”

“Don’t say that!” Astra sounds really upset, and her mouth is curved down with the ghost of her earlier desolation, when Alex looks back at her.

Alura’s eyes, if possible, look even more watery, as she smiles at her sister.

“I’m sorry,” she says, softly. “You know what I mean.”

Alex observes them both smile at each other, and then at Kara playing her game, and feels a sense of peace overtaking her, as she’s never felt before.

“Well?” she asks, sidling closer to Astra, after Alura walks away to join Kara at her game.

Astra looks back at her. Her face looks as serene as Alex feels, when their gazes meet. 

“I would love to go to the garden with you,” Astra says, and then her expression turns curious. “Why now, Alex?”

Alex knows what she means. They’ve been dancing around their feelings for months now. She knows that both Alura and Kara, by the conspiratorial looks they’ve been sharing everytime Alex visits, have been expecting them to do  _ something _ with each other long before now. But Alex hasn’t made the first move, and Astra hasn’t pressed her, although she’s made it more than clear with her actions, that she’ll reciprocate whatever Alex offers.

“Hank... J’onn... wanted me to stay,” Alex says, meeting Astra’s gaze again. “Wanted me to help him fix things. But I don’t think we can, really, not when the core is so rotten all the way through, and even if we can, I don’t think that’s the kind of work I want to be doing, and- and-”

She takes a deep breath, and decides to go for broke.

“And I couldn’t continue to be part of an organization that has treated you so shittily,” she gets out, all in a rush. “That’s why I waited this long, Astra.”

To her horror, Astra tears up. But, before Alex can rush to apologize, a teary smile lights up her face, and she jumps out of the couch to hug Alex. Or attempts to, but with the blankets tucked so firmly around her, they end up landing in a pile on the floor. Alex lets out a soft  _ oof _ as Astra lands on top of her, and then Astra tangles a hand in her hair, and leans down to kiss her. 

Alex has definitely wondered, once or twice, whether the tension between them will still be there once they actually had the chance to test it. She's wondered if it will just fizzle out, or if the chance to make the connection between them physical will lead to something more. 

She's happy to find that, pinned beneath Astra’s strong body while the woman kisses her senseless, that her fears are unfounded. The kiss is electric, spreading right through her body like a jolt of adrenaline and warming the tips of her fingers. She wraps her arms around Astra’s neck to kiss her back, and decides she's really, really fucking glad she turned in her badge. 

When they finally pull back for air, Astra is smiling at her, a slight dazed look glazing her eyes, and Alex is grinning so widely she probably looks like an idiot. 

And then, a switch controller socks Alex straight in the head.

“Take it somewhere else,” Kara calls out. “We’re trying to play a game here!”

Astra laughs, rolling onto her back on the carpet beside Alex, and smiling up at her. She's still twisted in the blankets, and Alex grasps a loose end and pulls it over herself, wiggling in closer, while Astra wraps an arm around her waist.

“I'm afraid my niece has very little tolerance for kissing at the moment,” she murmurs. “Especially since  _ someone _ -” And here, she breaks off to shoot a pointed look at Alura over Alex’s head “-keeps getting caught kissing a certain lawyer in the kitchen."

Alex laughs, nestling in against Astra, and resting her head on her shoulder. "Nevermind. This is nice, too."

Astra squeezes her shoulder, and presses her lips to her forehead. "I concur thoroughly." 

Alex leans up to kiss her cheek.

"Think this makes up for me shooting you?" she murmurs.

Astra turns her head to capture her lips in a firm, warm kiss. Alex's head is spinning by the time Astra pulls away, her lips curved in a warm smile as her eyes sparkle. "I think it's a good start." 

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! We hope you liked it!


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